Wall mounted air circulating heat exchangers



WALL MOUNTED AIR CIRCULATING HEAT EXCHANGERS Filed Feb. 16. 195s UMA/f iFla?. /0

A TTOENEYS United States Patent WALL MOUNTED AIR CIRCULATING HEATEXCHANGERS Kenneth E. Fosnes, Seattle, Wash. Application February 16,1953, Serial No. 336,931 6 Claims. (Cl. 257-137) This invention relatesto air circulating heat exchange apparatus especially suited for homeheating or cooling and similar applications, and more particularlyconcerns apparatus of this nature which may be constructed in such aform and compact arrangement to enable it to be mounted conveniently inthe wall of a room as a conventional heat register, for instance, andwhen thus mounted will be capable of highly eihcient operation tocirculate and heat or cool the air in a manner consistent with achievingmaximum comfort conditions in the room. The invention is hereinillustratively described by reference to the preferred form thereof asapplied to the problem of home heating, or cooling; however, it will beunderstood that various modifications and changes in the embodimentselected for illustrative purposes may be made without departing fromthe essential features of the invention.

There are in existence, of course, many different types of heatingsystems for homes and other buildings including, but not necessarilylimited to forced air circulation furnaces, hot water convector systems,hot water or steam radiant systems, individual room stoves or otherheaters supported on the iioor of a room, and others. Most conventionalheating systems` have certain advantages and certain disadvantages,taking into consideration such factors as installation and operatingcosts, cleanliness of operation, conservation of building space,controllability,

availability of instant heat, exibility in respect to the matter oflocating components, control of temperatures independently in thedifferent rooms, uniformity of heating and prevention of uncomfortabledrafts, etc. A general object of the present invention is to combine ina novel heat exchange device the advantages of most conventional heatingsystems without incurring their disadvantages, or at least to accomplishthis result in a greater degree than has been possible heretofore.

More specifically an object of the invention is an improved heatexchange device capable of providing more instant heat with less lossofheat than most conventional systems, and of circulating the heatuniformly around the room at floor level to eliminate uncomfortabledrafts and without producing wide fluctuations of room temperature.

Another object of the invention is the provision of heat exchangeapparatus especially well suited for heating and controlling thetemperature of individual rooms independently of other rooms withoutinvolving bulky or space-consuming and expensive equipment, indeed toachieve these and the other ends described while conserving useful spacenormally wasted by air ducts, radiators, etc.

A more specific object is apparatus of the nature described which issimple to install in existing building walls or to incorporate in newones at optimum locations, and after installation is convenientlyaccessible for maintenance and repairs. Moreover the individual heatexchange units may be mounted in building walls as readily and asinconspicuously as conventional wall registers used with hot airfurnaces.

With these and other objects in view as will hereinafter more fullyappear, the invention resides in the provision of wall mounted heatexchange apparatus comprising an elongated housing preferably ofgenerally rectangular proportions which encloses an interiorcornpartmented space not appreciably thicker than a con- 2,808,237Patented Oct. l, 1957A lCC 2 ventional building wall, such that the unitmay be set into the wall without projecting into the room anobjectionable amount. Particularly such a unit is low so that it may beinstalled conveniently beneath a window where heat application isparticularly desirable. In the otherwise closed front of such housingair inlet and outlet openings, having louvers directed oppositely fromeach other in a horizontal sense respectively, are provided inside-byside relationship extending in alignment horizontally across theface of the unit, Thus arranging the openings in a horizontal linecauses the air to move'horizontally through the unit and thereby permitssuch unit to be relatively narrow vertically, as mentioned, and sucharrangement effects the circulation of air about the room substantiallyat lloc-r level as discussed above. A heat exchange panel preferablycomprising a bank of finned water coils or the like is mounted on theback side of the housing cover behind one of the openings, Vsuch as thevdischarge opening. Alternatively the heating element may be anelectrical resistance type coil. An air filter panel is similarlymounted behind the other opening. Behind one of these panels, preferablythe filter panel, which may be ,relatively thin, a blower is mounted tomove air through the housing along a curved path extending in partlength- Wise of the housing and in part perpendicularly thereto throughone of the front openings. A series of curved deflector vanes mounted inthe housing behind the other opening directs the moving air along acurved path extending through such latter opening and continuous withthe blower-defined path. Preferably the blower is mounted behindtheintake opening for drawing air through the filter first, so that theblower and other internal parts will be kept as clean as possible. n

- In operation as a heater, for example, with the blower motor energizedand hot water supplied to the coil bank from a suitable source a steadyvortex of warm air is moved slowly around the room by the unit. Whenmounted near the floor, as preferred, the cool air is drawn into theunit off the oor and warm air is discharged therefrom near floor level,such that all parts of the floor are kept uniformly warm. As anotheradvantage, additional units may be mounted at other wall locations,preferably at equal spacings, around a large room in order to minimizetemperature gradients and strengthen the vortex action maintainingproper ,circulation of air.

These and other features, objects and advantages of the inventionincluding certain details of the preferred type of construction thereofwill become evident from the following description based upon theaccompanying drawings. v

Figure 1 is a front elevation view of the unit with parts broken away toshow interior details. Figure 2 is a similar view with different partsbroken away to show still other details of internal construction.

Figure 3 is a horizontal sectional view of the unit taken on line 3 3 inFigure 2.

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional View taken on line 4 4 in Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a vertical sectional view taken on line 5 5 in Figure 3.

Figure 6 is a front elevation view of a portion of the unitincorporating an electrical resistance heating coil, parts being brokenaway. n

Figure 7 is a schematic plan view of a large room wherein four heatexchange units are installed in a preferred arrangement.

vIn its illustrated form an individual room heat exchange unitconstructed in accordance with this invention comprises an open frontmetal housing 1t) of box-like form having an elongated rectangular rearwall 10a which is relatively narrow vertically in order to permitmounting the unit in a roorn wall below awindow, for example,

if desired. Preferably the housing wall 10a is of a length locating theend walls 10b and 10c substantially in contact with building studs S ifthe'latter are spaced conventionally. Thus the housing is preferablyabout 30S/s inches in length to be received between two studs on 16 inchcenters, where the intermediate stud has been partially cut away toaccommodate the unit. The end Walls lb and 10c are conveniently securedto the studs by screws 12 in order to hold the housing 10 firmly inplace. The width of these end walls 10b and 10c perpendicular to thebuilding wall W, and the width of the top and bottom walls 10d and 10einterconnecting the end walls and adjoining the rear wall 10a, is of theorder of the building wall thickness so that the front projects only ashort distance into the room, as shown in Figure 3.

Y This box-like housing 10 has bottom or top openings 14 and 16 to passwater pipes 36 into and from its interior and a side opening 1S for thereception of electric wires 30 for operating the blower. 'These may beclosed initially by knockouts, and either the tcp or bottom knockouts,or one of each, may be opened depending on what arrangement of pipes, orwires for an electrical resistance heating unit, is most convenient.Otherwise the housing 10 is separate or detachable from other componentsof the unit to be contained therein.

The remaining major components of the apparatus, including blower 24 andduct 26, deiiectors 34C, heat exchange coil bank 23 and filter panel 22,are fitted into the generally rectangular housing. Cover plate 20, whichmay be in two parts divided vertically at the center or may be unitary,closes the open front side of the housing and is provided witha flange20a extending around its edge to fit over the four walls of the housing.It may be secured in place by suitable means such as screws or bolts ineach corner threaded into tabs on the box wall. While the variousapparatus components may be mounted on the cover, it is not necessarythat they be secured to the housing, and consequently may be merely setinto the box. The filter panel 22 may be changed without the necessityof removing the cover plate 20 by providing a hinged ap 21 in the top ofcover plate ange 20a of a Width and length greater than the thicknessand length of the filter, as shown in Figure 5. The flap may be opened,the old filter lifted out by grasping a tab on its upper edge, and a newfilter inserted. Moreover, when access to the inside of the unit isnecessary for cleaning, etc., the cover is removed from the housing andmay be laid on the floor to expose the various components carried by it.

- The right section or area (Figures 2 and 3) of cover 20 is largelytaken up by a louvered air intake opening 201) wherein the` louvers 20!)extend vertically and are shaped to draw air from the room at the rightof the unit through such opening. The left section of the coverislargely occupied by a similar louvered air discharge opening 20c'wherein the vertically extending louvers 20cl are directed oppositelyaway from the louvers 20b to discharge air into the room toward the leftof the unit. In this manner, air in a room forced through the housingineither direction will be caused to circulate around and around theroom continuously in a generally horizontal i Fiberglas or othersuitable filter material forms the.

panel -22 behind the cover 20 to cover completely the louvered airintake opening for cleaning air drawn therethrough. A heat exchangepanel 23 is mounted behind or on the back side of the cover 20 andcovering the air discharge opening. In practice, an eihcientV iilterpanel 22 may usually be made thinner than the heat exchange element 23,so that it is expedient to mount the relatively bulky centrifugalblower, motor and fan unit 24 in the space behind the filter 22, insteadof directly behind the heat exchanger.

The centrifugal blower rotor is received in the air duct 26 having arounded cylindrical end portion concentric with blower 24, a front wall261, shown in Figure and at the right in Figure 3, and top and bottomwalls 26a and 26h (Figure 5) merging with such cylindrical end portion.The housing wall a`forms the rear wall of this blower duct, whichextends approximately to the vertical transverse midplane of the housing10. The plate or wall 2611c forms a funnelled axial air inlet or throat26d across which the motor mounting plate 26C is bridged, havingopenings`26etherein through which the air passes into the blower unit.Such plate-may be screwed in place by a screw in each corner threadedinto tabs on the housing. A transverse vertical panel 28 extendingbetween top and bottom housing walls 10d and 10e closes the spacebetween the cover plate and the left end of the blower Vduct wall 26fproviding a sealed compartmentl may be provided to control energizationand deenergization of the blower in response to predetermined changes inroom temperature.

The air being moved lengthwise of the housing through the blower duct 26reaches the transverse vertical mid- Y plane of the housing and enters aconfining and directing duct 34 behind the heat exchange assembly 23.The duct 34 is formed by forwardly convergent top and bottom walls'34aand 34b extending along the housing rear wall 10a and top and bottomwalls ,10d and 10e. A series of curved detiector plates or vanes 34eextending vertically between top and lbottom walls 34a and 34b split anddivide the air stream discharging from the blower duct 26 whilegradually deecting it from a direction parallel to the back wall 10ainto a direction perpendicular thereto so as to discharge this airefficiently through the panel 23 and out the louvered outlet 20c. Thedeecting vanes 34C are so spaced and have their leading or air-splittingedges `so located that all portions of the divided air stream pass insubstantially uniform heat exchange relationship in flowing through theheat exchanger. Various airlow directing arrangements could be used forthis purpose although that shown iu the drawing is presently preferred.

The hot or cold water supply and return water projected into the top orbottom and pipes 36 terminate inside the housing l0. Connecting pipes 38are screwed into the respective inlet and outlet headers of the heatexchanger 23 and their coupling ends are faced upwardly ordownwardly'depending on the location of the supply pipes above or belowthe unit. The connecting ends of pipes 38 have internally threadedcoupling elements carried rigidly by them into which the externallythreaded ends of pipes 36 may be screwed.

If it should `be desired to cool the room as in summer, water will besupplied to one of the pipes 36 from the usual cold domestic watersupply, or from a suitable refrigeration unit, and returned to waste orto-such refrigeration unit.' When the device is to be used for heating,hot water will be supplied from any of various types of unit. Mostconvenient would be a gas heater provided especially for heating the`water to be supplied to the air conditioning units `but for smallinstallations the hot water could be supplied by the usual gas orelectric hot water heating units at a temperature of F. to F., forexample. For large installations an oil tired boiler arrangement may beprovided as the source of hot water.

Instead of providing a liquid heated or liquid cooled radiator unit suchas 23 described above, the device may incorporate an electrically heatedpanel. Thus in Figure 6 an electric resistance coil 23 carrying louvers20c is shown mounted in the left end of the air conditioning unitinstead of the thin type radiator shown in Figure 2. With such anarrangement it would of course not be necessary to provide the supplyand return pipes 36 but instead wires would extend through the aperturesin the box to supply power to the electrical heating unit. Theresistance wire preferably is embedded in a metal tube in accordancewith conventional practice, but an exposed resistance wire element couldbe employed if desired. Suitable thermostat mechanism responsive to roomtemperature may be provided not only to control the operation of theblower but .also to energize and deenergize such an electric heatingcoil or to vary the portions of the coil heated or the temperature ofsuch portions as is conventional in the control of electric heatingcoils.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that the presentinvention provides an extremely compact and efliciently arranged heatexchange device capable of being mounted and operated conveniently inthe wall of a room where it will not interfere with the usefulemployment of the room space. Moreover, it is clean and provides instantheat inasmuch as the coils 23 may be kept hot at all times for addingheat slowly to the room except when the blower is turned on manually orby a thermostat to increase the rate of heat output to a relativelylarge value and furnish instant heat. This action tends to stabilizeroom temperature and reduce the amplitude of temperature uctuationsbelow those normally experienced. Because the cold air drawn into theunit travels a short distance along a uniform but low temperaturegradient path, no objectionable drafts are produced, whereas the usualcold rair returns of a central forced air circulating furnace draw co'ldair over large distances and from diverse areas, causing rapid movementof cold air attended by large temperature gradients. In the presentinvention the units are placed near the oor consistent with maximumcomfort conditions. Moreover, objectionable heat ducts are dispensedwith so that a very minimum of useful space is required for occupationby the heating apparatus.

The central plant for heating the hot water supplied through pipes tothe individual unit or units mounted in the different rooms of thebuilding may 'be located at any convenient point. The large amount ofheat lost in conveyance from the central plant to the individual roomregister in a conventional forced air type of furnace, caused by thelarge size of the hot air ducts and the difculty of insulating them, isminimized in the present system because of the absence of long ducts.Hot water pipes conveying hot water from the central water heating plantto the heat exchange unit may be small in size and easily insulated.

A similar heat exchange unit to that shown in the drawings and describedhereinabove may be mounted in a wall of each room in a house, forexample, and independent controls of an automatic nature may be providedfor each if desired. Moreover, as shown in Figure 7, several cooperativeunits U of the same nature may be installed in the walls of a singlelarge room if desired. These units are preferably spaced approximatelyequal distances apart around the periphery of the general vortex ofmoving, heated (or cooled) air which they create Iwhen operatedsimultaneously. With the units located at equal spacings the temperaturegradients in the room will be at a minimum and the uniformity of aircirculation improved thereby.

These and other advantages of the improved heating system and heatexchange units employed therein will be apparent to those skilled in theart.

I claim as my invention:

1. Wall mounted heat exchange apparatus comprising an elongated housingof a vertical width short in relation to its length horizontally and ofa horizontal depth shallow in relation to its vertical width, and havingan open front, cover means tted to said housings open front and havingair intake and discharge openings disposed in side-by-side substantiallyhorizontal registry, vertical louvers in said discharge opening directedaway from said intake opening in a horizontal sense, an air lter panelin said housing immediately behind and covering one of said openings, aheat exchange panel in said housing immediately behind the other of saidopenings, said air filter panel and said heat exchangeA panel beingdisposed in substantially coplanar relationship, blower means mountedinside said housing producing airow therein, and air deiiecting means insaid housing cooperating with said blower means to move air from saidintake opening to said discharge opening along a substantiallyhorizontal path generally U-shaped in plan.

2. T-he heat exchange apparatus defined in claim 1 in which the airintake and discharge openings are disposed in substantially contiguousrelationship.

3. The heat exchange apparatus defined in claim 1, wherein the airdeflecting means and the two panels are mounted on the cover means andare removable from the housing therewith.

4. The heat exchange `apparatus defined in claim l, wherein the blowermeans includes a blower duct having a discharge end discharging parallelto the cover means v but spaced inwardly therefrom and having an airintake opening facing and generally aligned with the cover means intakeopening for drawing air therethrough, and the air deflecting meansincludes a plurality of curved generally parallel vanes interposedbetween the blower duct discharge end and the discharge opening of thecover means.

5. Wall mounting heat exchange apparatus comprising a shallow housing ofgenerally rectangular shape having an open front, cover means fitted tosaid open front and having air intake and discharge openings disposed insideby-side substantially contiguous horizontal registry, a heatexchange panel in said housing immediately behind and covering one ofsaid openings, blower means mounted inside said housing producing airowtherein, and air deflecting means in said housing cooperating with saidblower means to move air from said intake opening to said dischargeopening along a substantially horizontal path generally U-shaped inplan, wherein the heat exchange panel and the air deecting means aremounted on the cover means and are removable from the housing therewith.

6. Wall mounted air circulating heat exchange apparatus for heating -aroom comprising a plurality of heat exchange units spaced about theroom, each unit being received within the wall and each unit includingair intake and discharge apertures opening into the room disposed inside-by-side substantially horizontal registry, heat transfer means, airdirecting means guiding air moving into the intake aperture directedhorizontally away from the discharge aperture, and air directing meansguiding air moving out of the discharge aperture directed horizontallyaway from the intake aperture, and the air directing means for theintake apertures of all heat exchange units facing in correspondingdirections relative to the walls in which said units are mounted and theair directing means for the discharge apertures of all of said unitsfacing oppositely in corresponding directions relative to the walls inwhich the respective units are mounted.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,029,153 Burner Jan. 28, 1936 2,040,227 Wernersson May 12, 19362,451,926 Dallin Oct. 19, 1948 2,550,754 Baker May 1, 1951 2,584,442Prie Feb. 5, 1952 2,585,132 Kalmadge Feb. 12, 1952 2,637,532 Baker May5, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 571,735 Great Britain Sept. 6, 1945

